


Hold Onto My Heart

by danni_elyse



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Coma, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Hospital, Love, Major Character Injury, Paris (City), Post-Break Up, Purgatory, Romance, TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25799278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danni_elyse/pseuds/danni_elyse
Summary: Anya is beside herself after she and her childhood love, Dmitry, broke up nine months ago. One night while walking home, Anya is caught in a confrontation that lands her in the hospital. Upon hearing the news of her injury, Vlad contacts Dmitry, but will it be too late?
Relationships: Dimitri | Dmitry & Anya | Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997 & Broadway), Dimitri | Dmitry/Anya | Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997 & Broadway), Lily Malevsky-Malevitch & Vlad Popov
Comments: 22
Kudos: 16





	1. Confrontation

Anya was beside herself. How things ended up like this. She and her childhood love, Dmitry had broken up nine months ago. She had found out what Dmitry had done to get her out of the dangers in Russia and used her as a con for finding the lost and last relative of the Romanov family. Yes, she was the remaining one that was alive. All of her siblings and her parents were killed tragically in accident while Anya was at home with a tutor. Apparently, there was a rumor swirling around of the time of the accident that there was someone in the highest rank of soldiers in Russia named Gleb - he and his men had a plan to kill the whole family intentionally and purposely in a car accident.

After the break up, she decided to focus on herself. She took up some classes for photography and painting as a hobby. Even though, she still had money from her grandmother, it still wasn't going to help much with her studies. So, she was now working part-time at a small cafe near Champs-Élysées.

"I'll see you later Victor," Anya says to her manager as she grabs her things to leave for the night. 

"Au Revior, Anya," Victor smiles. 

She sees the last of the sun's rays going down behind the Eiffel Tower in the distance, casting such beautiful colors across the sky. 

Walking home alone on most nights like this made her feel uncomfortable because she would always feel so completely safe around Dmitry by her side especially being in a quite hustle bustle city like Paris. But now, he's not able to meet her at the bridge anymore like he always would after her shift. His absence felt more awkward and dangerous to her. Plus, she couldn't go to the bridge anymore, it would bring back too many memories of Dmitry and their relationship. So, as a shortcut way to home, she would go across the street from the cafe to the small alley way behind the buildings, walking several blocks down to the back end of her flat.

For some reason, Anya had an odd feeling someone was watching her from the distance tonight. She turns her head to the right and gasps as she recognizes the familiar figure and turns to the other direction of the alley.

"I’ve come to take you home," Gleb's voice rose.  
  
"My home is here now," Anya says, gripping the lapel of the purse while walking fast, attempting to get away from him. 

"Paris is no place for a good and loyal Russian," he says, catching up to her. "Do you know what trouble you've caused?" He grabs her arm, whipping her, landing her harshly against the brick wall of the building her.

"I-I don't understand," Anya gasping and shaking her head in a fear. Under the orange streetlight, she could see the ferocious danger and madness in his dark eyes beneath his black suave hair. "Let me go," she whimpers, feeling his right hand gripping very tightly on her bicep.

"The Romanovs were given everything and gave back nothing in return," he brings his face close to her. “You’ll never win, Anya.” He whispers, bringing out a bat.

\-----------------------

Vlad is walking home from Neva Club with Lily. And for some reason, they decide to take their shortcut way to their home. As they walk towards the end of the alley, they see someone curled up in a ball under the streetlight in the alleyway. They assumed it was some homeless woman, but apparently she is wearing shorts, a nice shirt and sneakers. 

"Vlad, darling, you should check if she's okay," Lily pokes his chest in a fright.

He goes over to her quickly and turns her over. It was Anya. She was all beat up and blood was oozing from her forehead.

"Oh my god!" Lily croaks. 

"Anya." He shakes her softly and checked her pulse. It was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. "Oh, god," he wraps his arms underneath her, picking her up. He jostles for a moment there due to her weight. It's not easy for him to be carrying a young woman at his age. 

The purse slides off of Anya's shoulder, falling onto the pavement in front of them as Vlad shuffles her carefully in his arms. Lily picks it up and they start to run to the closest hospital to where they were. 

"You will be okay, Anya." He looks down to her limp body while running. "Just hold on," he pants. 

"Someone help us here!" Lily yells as they run through the emergency room door threshold.

"Lay her here," the nurse says, bringing the gurney to them. Several doctors and nurses swarms around them.

"Okay," Vlad lies her down gently.

"What's her name?" The young doctor asks while gingerly inspecting Anya.

"Anya Romanov."

"Okay, we're going to take her to the Trauma Center," he says and then nods to his fellow residents to take her. "Just wait in the waiting area."

"Does she have any parents, relatives, or anyone?" Nurse comes up to Vlad and Lily.

"Her whole family died in a car accident, uh, eighteen years ago." Lily's voice cracking as she wipes her eyes. "Her grandmother recently passed."

"Do you know her well though?" The nurse hands the forms to Lily.

"Yes, we are her dearest friends," Vlad nods. "We've known her since she was a child."

"That’s good enough. As long as you know enough about her to fill out her paperwork accurately, it’s fine," the nurse says. "When you finish the paperwork, tell the person at the desk that you’re with her. Someone will keep you informed." She walked back to the trauma area.

"Okay," they answer and went to settle into chairs in the waiting room, feeling frazzled. 

\---------

"Emergency contact?" Vlad looks up at Lily who was continuing to filling out the forms

"I don't know," Vlad shrugs his shoulders. "I thought it would be Dmitry."

"But he isn't with her anymore," Lily says fiddling with the pen back and forth. "I got to see something," she lifts a finger before shuffling the things through Anya's purse. "There's got to be a phone book or something."

Then a piece of paper falls on to the floor next to their feet. 

"What's this?" Vlad eyes the slightly crumbled and folded yellow paper on the floor. He gingerly opens it up after picking it up; it was written in Anya's handwriting:

**_**BACK UP NEW EMERGENCY CONTACT**_ **  
  
_DMITRY SUDAYEV_

_(O-6-21-34-76-53)_

"I think we've got our answer," he looks at Lily, puzzled. 


	2. News

_"What's this?" Vlad eyes the slightly crumbled and folded yellow paper on the floor. He gingerly opens it up after picking it up; it was written in Anya's handwriting._

**_**BACK UP NEW EMERGENCY CONTACT**_ **  
  
_DMITRY SUDAYEV_

_(O-6-21-34-76-53)_

_"I think we've got our answer," he looks at Lily, puzzled._

\-------------------

"Should we call him?" Lily asks, biting her lip.

Vlad hasn't heard from him ever since they broke up last year. Last, he heard that Dmitry had moved outside of the city of Paris. 

Without opening his eyes, Dmitry wacks the alarm clock next to his bed, hoping to silence the squawking beast. He turns over and pushes his face back down again with a comfortable "Mfffffffff." After the break-up, Dmitry found that it wasn't worth of doing the "con" business anymore. He had seen what had caused to disintegrate the relationship in between Anya and him. He decides to try to turn into a new leaf for once by trying something anew and better. He moves to Chambly, a town just outside of Paris. He decides to go for something different and challenging. He is currently studying to be become a prosecutor lawyer. For the past several weeks, he had been writing countless essays, studying hard and prepping for the upcoming bar exams that was coming up in two months. But he somehow decided to take a break from studying tonight, especially it was a start of the weekend.

But the sudden ringing sound appears again next to the bed, startles Dmitry again. His hand flies out, finding the phone in the darkness. He could not stop the incessant ringing. He shakes his head with a groan. With half closed eyes, he feels for the receiver. He looks at the familiar number on the screen. Vlad. He hasn't been in touch with him for a while.

"Hello," Dmitry groggily answers.

"Dmitry. I’m sorry if I woke you up." Vlad speaks on the other line.

Dmitry rubs his hand over his face as he looks over at the lit clock on the nightstand. It was 3:02 in the morning. Why he would be calling him this early in the morning? 

"Dmitry, it's Anya." Vlad's voice becomes grim. 

Dmitry immediately sits up straight at the tone of his voice, wide awake now instead of being sleepy like he was several minutes ago. "W-what happened?"

"I found her in the alley earlier, all beaten up severely," Vlad continues. "The doctors are saying that her chances are not good."

Dmitry could feel his heart sinking to his stomach. "Shit," he runs his fingers through his hair and brings his legs over to the side of the bed. The silence becomes visible in between them. 

"Dmitry? Are you still there?" He questions urgently, wondering if the phone line went out.

"Yes, I’m still here." He blows his hair out of his face and looks up into the ceiling. 

"I wanted to call you because I found out that you were still her emergency contact, so I figured --"

 _Damn it, Anya._

"No, it's okay," Dmitry says, quickly reaching for his pants and shirt in the closet. "Where is she at?"

"She's at St. Louis Hospital, near the 19th Arrondissement."

"I'll be right there," he shifts the phone in between his head and shoulder while shuffling his sneakers on and then tying the laces as quickly as possible. 

"Okay," Vlad answers.

Dmitry ends the phone call and runs out of the apartment, running down the steps two at a time.

\------------

"May I help you?" The receptionist asks. 

"Dmitry Sudayev," he pants after his exertion while running in the hospital's parking lot. "I'm here for Anya."

"Anya, who?" the young receptionist frowns.

"Anya--" Dmitry answers but then he hears someone calling his name from the distance.

"Dmitry!" Vlad shouts as he comes running forward to him. "You made it!"

"Vlad," Dmitry wraps his arms around him. "How have you been?"

"Doing all right, my boy," he gently pats his back while pulling back to see Dmitry.

"Excuse me, fellas," the receptionist interrupts their reunion, tapping her fingers in annoyance. 

"Oh right!" Dmitry turns to her attention. "I'm here for Anya Romanov."

"She's in the room 505 in the Intensive Care Unit," the receptionist looks at the computer screen. "Visiting Hours are over though." 

"He's her fiancée," Vlad suddenly blurts out. 

"Just go with it," Dmitry needed to think, to get a grip on the situation. 

"Yeah, I'm her fiancée," he nods in a agreement.  
  
"Come on, I'll go with you," Vlad beckons his head to the other direction.

They walk their way to an elevator to make their way up.

"She’s in pretty in a grim situation," Vlad says, stopping at the fifth floor. 

They had reached the room that Anya was in, and they could see doctor and the nurse was there first, checking her vitals through the glass. 

The nurse appears in threshold, about to leave, bumps to them. "Where are you going sir?"

"I-in there," Dmitry points the direction where Anya was. 

"Not in those street clothes, you may infect her," she quips, shaking her finger. "You must wear personal protection equipment on."

Dmitry looks down at his clothes, that he literally threw on mere seconds before running out the door.

"Are you family?" The nurse questions him.

"I'm her fiancée," Dmitry says.

"All right," the nurse agrees. "Come on in and I'll help you put PPE on."

"You can go in, I'll be with Lily," he beckons his head towards the end of the corridor.

After putting on a hospital gown and washing his hands, the nurse helps him put on plastic gloves and a yellow mesh gown. 

Dmitry gulps as he walks through the doorway. As he reaches Anya’s bed, He stares, feeling shocked, at the array of life-support equipment. She is now surrounded by machines, each performing a different function to keep her alive. He moves closer, trying not to disturb anything. An IV line that supplied essential fluids and nutrients. Another machine helped her to breathe. Her left leg is in traction, being slightly suspended above her, her head is now partly shaved and bandaged, turned slightly to the side to avoid putting pressure on the injury.

"Hello there," the doctor turns to Dmitry. "I'm Doctor Palov", he holds his hand out to shake.

"Dmitry Sudayev," he shakes his hand in a greet.

"Are you a family of hers?"

"No."

"I need to speak to a family member, for reasons of confidentiality."

"She doesn't have any family," Dmitry mentally crosses his fingers. "I-I used to be her boyfriend and we broke up," he stutters. "Ah, it's complicated," he brushes the back of his neck.

Doctor Palov looks at the paperwork that Vlad and Lily had filled out earlier; it listed Dmitry as Anya’s emergency contact.

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he speaks softly to him, "Since you are her emergency contact, I’ll tell you what’s going on."

Dmitry nods. "How is she?" His eyes look over Anya who seems to be looking quite so pale, almost white, and she lay very still. The only indication that she is alive was the slight rise and fall of her chest as she takes a breath, and the jagged lines are moving across the screen of the heart monitor, indicating that her heart was still beating.

Dr. Palov pencils in the vitals on her chart. "She has a compound fracture in her left leg, and her skull is fractured on the right side. With some swelling of the brain, we had to put a shunt to relief the swelling and fluid," He points out the line underneath her bandaged head to the plastic bag on the side of the bed. "She has has some other bruises and scrapes as you see."

Dmitry stands quietly through this explanation, his face growing paler with each new piece of bad news. "Overall, what are her chances?"

"At this moment, I’d say she has about a thirty to fifty percent chance of survival. But we’ll know more when she wakes up from a coma," Dr. Palov says. 

Dmitry nods shakily. "Can I stay here with her for now?"

"As long as you stay out of the way," he points to the call button. "Let the nurse know if there's any changes."

Dmitry grabs the chair from the opposite wall, and sinks into it, his hands shaking. He couldn't believe this would be happening.

Gently, Dmitry takes her hand, careful not to jar the needles. Her hand feels cold and clammy, not warm and strong that he remembers. His eyes scans up to her mouth that is covered with a brace, holding two tubes helping her breathe, her face slight swollen with black and blue bruises, scrapes on her cheek. 

Stroking her hand, he speaks quietly to her. "Anya, come on. You’ve got to wake up. It’s going to be okay; I know it is. You’ve just got to wake up."


	3. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all what I've written for chapter three! Sorry, if this is so short to read! I promise the next chapter will be a bit longer than this!

Anya groans as she blinks her eyes open and sees the bright sunlight shining down on her face. She carefully sits up and looks around her surroundings. It looks like the same backyard of her home in Tsarskoye Selo. 

She sees a woman wearing a elongated pale yellow gown with a hat, slightly covering her face from the sun. A man with a wispy mustache along with beard and he is wearing his military uniform. He seems to be in conversation with the woman as they walk along the lake. Then it suddenly dawns on her, it's her parents. "Mama! Papa!" She screams as she gets up to run. As she reaches more closely to them, she throws herself forward, tackling her father backwards onto the lush and soft grass. 

“Anastasia!” Nicholas yells through a fit of laughter as her daughter nuzzles into him. “What’s gotten into you?” He pulls back to look at Anya who seemed like she has seen a ghost. Nicholas' smile falls as he lifts the back of his hand to his stunned daughter in his arms. “Are ya alright?"

Anya grabs hold of his hand quickly and brings it to her cheek, holding it close to make sure it was real. "Yes, Papa," she chokes back tears and wraps her arms around his neck once again, burying her face into his shoulder. She could smell the aromas of tobacco, whiskey and cologne like he used to wear. 

She pulls back and then looks over to her mother who continues to stare at her silently, waiting for an explanation as to what was going on. "Oh Mama," she leans over to wrap her arms around her mother's neck. All through her life, her mother was strict but very cautious, in a way of protecting her children and loved ones. But in this lifetime, Alexandra accepts and welcomes her into her arms.

"Let's take you home," Nicholas says, smiling - holding out his hand for her to take. "And see your sisters and Alexei."

"I'd like that," Anya smiles as she takes his hand and looks up to her mother who is smiling brightly.

They stroll back through their garden and make their ways to their home to join in with the rest of their family.

\-----

"Dmitry! Dmitry, wake up!"

Dmitry jumps, startled. Blinking sleepily, he looks up at Vlad.

Vlad stands in front of him, looking in a concern. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Dmitry looks around, trying to remember where he was. Last thing, he remembers that he was sitting in the chair next to Anya's beside and then was moved to a accommodation room that was next to Anya's. 

Still groggy, Dmitry looks up at Vlad. "What time is it?"

Vlad looked at his watch, "8:30."

He groans as he stretches, stiff from sleeping in the uncomfortable bed. He looks over to Anya through the glass windows who was still the same condition when he first came in last night. 

"How is she?" Vlad asks softly.

"The same," he sighs deeply.

Vlad turns his head, grimly. He couldn't believe only two days ago that he and Lily met up for a lunch with her and now she's in the hospital, surrounded by machines. He looks up above, muttering softly and turns to Dmitry who was folding back the blanket on the bed.

"Do you want to head downstairs to the cafeteria?" Vlad asks. "I figured we should get something to eat."

"I-I don't know," Dmitry becomes hesitant. He glances over to Anya's lying state.

"Well if there's any changes, the doctor or nurse will call you," Vlad says. "And Lily is coming in shortly to see her."

"All right," Dmitry sighs reluctantly.

Vlad beckons his head to lead them out of the room.

"Anything from the police?" Dmitry folds his arms across his chest.

"No," he shakes his head. "I haven't heard back from them yet. A detective said that they would get right on it and make a case." 

"This is totally a nightmare, Vlad," his voice gets muffled by rubbing his face with his hands. "I mean, who would do this to her?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "Lily told me that she really hasn't been seeing anyone since you both parted ways." 

Dmitry blinks. They broke up nine months ago. He becomes befuddled at the thought of Anya not moving on and seeing anyone else especially after that regrettable mistake he had made would make her not love him anymore.

"What you have been up to?" Vlad sighs deeply as he takes a seat front of Dmitry in the cafeteria. "I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I got sick of all the bullshit, we've had done in the past so I moved outside of Paris," Dmitry mumbles, folding his arms across the the table. "I decided to do something new for me."

"What's that?" Vlad lifts his eyebrows in curiosity. 

"You're going to laugh," he retorts.

"No," Vlad shakes his head. "I won't."

"I've been studying to become a prosecutor lawyer," Dmitry looks down, fiddling with his fingers.

Vlad begins to chuckle, letting his cheeks go pink like the great old Saint Nicholas would have. 

His brown eyes raises up to Vlad's slightly shaking torso. "What?!" Dmitry whispers harshly. "You promised not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry, Dmitry," Vlad pats his hand gently on Dmitry's forearm. "I just never thought I would see the day you would do this." He smiles. "I'm proud of you, my boy," he brings out his hand to shake Dmitry's hand before bringing him into his embrace.

"Thank you Vlad," his voice gets muffled against Vlad's shoulder. It feels like he's back home where he belongs for the first time in many months. 

"Say, shall we get something to eat quick before we head upstairs?" Vlad beckons his head to the line for breakfast. 

"Sure," Dmitry nods with a smile. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please, please let me know what you think of this story! I'd really appreciate the feedback and comments! :)
> 
> Thank you so very much to Leah, Iz, Ellie and Hailey for your help! It means a whole lot! xx


End file.
